This location was at a cottage in a lake near Wolcott NY. (Upstate NY). Could this be a water snake like a Water Moccasin, or could it be something like a Black Rat snake?
This looks like a harmless Northern Watersnake.
It couldn't be a "Water Moccasin" because Water Moccasins (or more correctly, Eastern Cottonmouths) do not occur north of Virginia. There are no venomous "watersnakes" in the NE US.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

